Speaker 1: (00:00)
New information this morning on a crash outside the Capitol that ended with the driver allegedly shooting and killing himself. Now, this happened early yesterday morning. Law enforcement stands on high alert again today.
Speaker 2: (00:10)
That’s right. Jess Arnold joins us live from outside the Capitol this morning with the latest details. Jess, what are we learning? Good morning.
Speaker 3: (00:18)
Good morning. Yeah. Well, Capitol police are still trying to piece together why a man drove into this barricade outside of the Capitol and allegedly shot himself. But they say that no one else was injured and none of their officers fired any shots. So let’s walk through what we know as of this morning.
Speaker 3: (00:33)
Police say the man is Richard A. York III, who is a 29 year old from Delaware. They say a little after 4 o’clock Sunday morning, York rammed into that barricade on East Capitol Street at 2nd Street. Then they say he got out of the car, set it on fire, and then shot his handgun into the air several times. Next, Capitol police say that one of their officers saw York port put the gun to his head and shoot himself. Again, Chief Tom Manger says that no one else was hurt and none of the officers who responded fired their weapons.
Speaker 3: (00:59)
So far, police haven’t found an immediate connection between York and the Capitol, but our team reviewed his record and found charges for drugs, assault, burglary, and making terroristic threats in Pennsylvania. Now in light of those increased threats to law enforcement that Matt Gregory had told you about, figuring out why is particularly important here. But officers say that York didn’t say anything or wasn’t wearing anything that indicated his motivations before ending his life. And that it doesn’t seem like anyone in Congress was a target, since they are on recess.
Speaker 4: (01:27)
We’re doing a scrub of social media and certainly running through all the databases that we have. I think like law enforcement nationwide, we are on a higher alert. That was one of the reasons, I think, that we were able to respond as quickly as we did.
Speaker 3: (01:45)
Now remember that last spring, a similar incident happened where a driver rammed into a barricade outside of the Capitol, killing Capitol police officer, Billy Evans. Now, as police continue to investigate this incident, as you said, Annie and Allison, those officers are going to continue to remain hyper vigilant. For now, though, I’ll send it back to you.